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I hadn't found much rest in Hywel's company, too busy working through my conversation with Conall. It was easier to argue through my clunky emotions while working. Between polishing Hywel's scales and running with Conall, my limbs were wobbly and weak now, and my stomach snarling in an entirely human hunger.
I must've been thinking of dinner, of the men waiting for me, because it was not the great hall that the stairs turned toward, but Laszlo's study. The scent of rich cream and salted meat and hints of ginger and lemon and thyme reached me first, my mouth watering eagerly. The low voices twining followed quickly, conversation steady and just loud enough for me to make out.
"We have allies in South America, Norway, Russia, all searching for more temples," Asterion said.
"He has no houses in those countries," Laszlo said, and I knew at once who they spoke of, my feet freezing just steps away from the top of the stairs.
"Precisely," Asterion answered. "After Amon and Miss Reed destroyed the temple near Jerusalem, Birsha fled England and ran not for his house in Paris, but south to Crete. Eventually, he resurfaced in Rome. We followed his tracks and found another temple, another group of trapped monsters. We don't know how many of these places he has, how many monsters are sustaining him, but we are certain he keeps them out of reach of the lodestones and his businesses."
The word "lodestone" jerked me out of my shock, and my steps were clumsy, scuffing up the remaining stairs. The voices hushed, and then the wall at the top of the stairs swung open, revealing Laszlo by the light of the fire.
"Ah, there you are. Your dinner is waiting," he said, offering a hand down into the dark.
I grasped it gratefully, climbing out and into his study. Asterion sat stiff and upright at the round table now set for four, while Conall leaned back in his chair, eyes fixed to me.
"Birsha has others…like me?"Sisters?I wondered. Surely I hadn't been my mother's only daughter, not with the way Asterion spoke of me.
Asterion pushed back from his seat, standing in place and watching Laszlo lead me closer. Would he run? Was hesodetermined to avoid me that he'd leave the room and conversation?
No, he only waited for me to take my seat between himself and Laszlo before doing the same.
"He has another Divinity in his Shanghai house, a young man, but he's there of a…voluntary nature at the moment," Conall explained.
"Are you sure?" I asked sharply.
Asterion nodded. "He won't leave, we're certain, although when we're ready to take that house down too, he'll be an ally."
"He has a lover in the house he's determined to protect," Conall said. He was leaning toward me, dinner ignored in favor of stretching out a hand to my legs, waiting for permission to touch.
"And who are the other lodestones?" I asked.
"Succubi, nymphs, creatures of pleasure. You don't need to worry,théa, wewilldefeat Birsha and all his houses."
Asterion's shoulders were squared, his eyes on his plate but his body tense and solid.King of the Labyrinth. I blinked, sucking in a breath, recalling the vision of Asterion in The Seven Veils, standing square in a hallway as I was dragged back down to the cells, his eyes glaring at me. I'd thought then that he would buy my time, but he must only have been playing his part as spy in the house. I didn't see him again until the night the walls broke and burnt and I ran, screaming till I was hoarse.
And then again on the dark streets of London.
"What happens after you have defeated Birsha?" I asked.
Asterion paused in cutting his steak. "You will be safe. You will—youarefree to go wherever you like, and—"
"And when the next man or monster rises to take Birsha's place, who collects young men and women, creatures of pleasure, and offers their flesh for sale?"
"That won't—we won't—" Asterion stumbled, glancing at the others.
"Birsha has been bold. He's grabbed his power by the fistfuls, fought off foes and competitors, hoping that he alone could offer what no one else would," Conall said.
I nodded. I'd suspected as much. "And when he falls, those who did not dare challenge him will have an opportunity to take his place. Perhaps not as boldly. Certainly not on such a large scale to start," I said, cutting my food to tiny pieces, ignoring the snarl of hunger as I thought through the future. "How many of your allies stand with you not because they care about the mistreatment of humans, of women like me, but because they resent being challenged by a man who was human once?"
Conall pulled back into his own seat, reaching for his wine, and Laszlo and Asterion both stared at me.
I continued, "How many are just waiting for Birsha to fall so they can steal for themselves in the reckoning?"
"Several, I imagine," Asterion said in a low velvet tone, drawing my eyes to his. "I will fight them too. And I will not be alone, I promise you that."
I'd been right earlier. There were pieces of Conall, Laszlo, and Hywel that I needed. But I'd been right about Asterion too.
His dark eyes held mine, and there was no doubt when he made me the vow, no shy reluctance, no hiding from me. He was solid and safe and strong, and he would not falter in protecting me for as long as I allowed him to.
